Harry Potter and the Mysterious Mind Reader
by SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Danni is a student at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. She has always felt a deep hatred for the famous Harry Potter. Then he catches her breaking the rules, and offers her a deal that she can't refuse. After seeing more sides of the famous figure, she begins to become unsure of her own feelings.
1. Chapter 1

**Wrote this for one of my friends, hope you like it Danni.**

Danni looked around nervously. She knew that what she was doing wasn't encouraged, even if it wasn't exactly against the rules. Danni Cobb was fifteen years old, a member of the Ravenclaw house in Hogwarts. And ever since her first day, she had felt hatred for the dark haired boy with the lightning shaped scar. There was only one problem, and that was the fact that she was completely invisible.

To him, at least. He was one of the most famous figures in the wizarding world, and she was just an ordinary kid. She had been raised knowing she was a witch her whole life, since her parents were a wizard and a witch, and her older brother Jacob was also a wizard, though he was already old enough to use magic outside of school. She had never thought she was particularly special in any way, since her whole family was magical. And compared to the famous Harry Potter, she was an insignificant fly on the wall.

Harry Potter had everything that would never be within Danni's reach. He had a family, the Weasley's, who took care of him and loved him. He had many books written about him. He had a place in Dumbledore's heart in a way that most students didn't. He had defeated He-Who-Can-Not-Be-Named more times than any competent adult. He had two best friends, Ron and Hermione, who he would always be able to rely on.

And to top it off, he always seemed like an arrogant jerk. He was always showing off around the other students, whether it was flying on a broom the first time, or becoming the youngest quidditch seeker in history, or taking his first hippogriff fight, he was in the center of attention.

And even though no one bothered to pay attention, Danni had always resented the kid, despite the fact that his parents had been murdered by one of the most evil people imaginable when he was just a baby, and that he had been raised by his aunt and uncle who weren't very good people.

Danni was sneaking down the hallway in the dark, long past curfew. She knew she wouldn't get caught. Though she had never told anyone before, Danni had the unique ability to read minds. But after she saw how shunned Harry Potter was when it was discovered that he knew Parseltongue, she knew she didn't want to risk that kind of alienation when she barely had any friends as it was.

Danni had never imagined that she would be doing something as mean as she planned to, but she shrugged when she started to hesitate. She wasn't hurting anyone, not really, and besides, Harry wasn't likely to get into any trouble at all with the way the teachers favored him. After what seemed like hours of walking and climbing staircases, she finally entered the Great Hall.

She went over to the giant hourglasses at the wall. She walked past the first three, and stood before the last one, filled about a quarter way up with glistening rubies. She held her breath for a moment to extend her mind, and she didn't feel anyone, human or ghost, anywhere near her. She pulled out her wand and held it out steadily in front of her. She was a little nervous. If she was somehow caught, the consequences would be devastating.

Her breath caught in her throat as she imagined being permanently expelled. She forced herself to think about the fact that she would know as soon as anyone approached. Danni smiled as she began to softly murmur a spell under her breath. Ravenclaw had been the perfect place for her, as she had proved with her intelligence and wit many times over. And the hourglasses were supposed to be tamper proof, but she had come up with a way around that.

Once she closed her mouth, she watched with fascination as the rubies slowly rose up in the hourglass. She smirked. Making them lose house points would only make it clear that it had been sabotage, but by giving them more points, it would seem like one of the Gryffindors had been trying to cheat.

While Danni was concentrating on making her brand new spell work perfectly, she forget to keep a bit of her mind open to hear if anyone else approached. Suddenly, she heard footsteps tapping across the stone floor, coming closer, and she felt dread tear through her stomach. This was it, this was the end. They were going to expel her and never let her use magic again.

She spun around, and stared with surprise into the face of the one person she hated most of all: Harry Potter.


	2. Chapter 2

**So I wasn't sure at first where I was going with this story, but I think that I've figured it out now. I'm not sure that my Harry is much like the one from the story at all. And this whole story takes place in the fourth year, but it's going to be mostly non-canon. Please review, it's what inspires me to write more :)**

Harry stared at the girl in front of him with wide eyes. She was a few inches shorter than him, and she had thick brown hair that went down to her waist, and deep brown eyes. She looked like she was about to run away, and she had the guilty look of someone caught doing something they weren't supposed to be doing. Harry noticed that her robes were lined with blue and bronze, so she must be a Ravenclaw.

She looked sort of familiar, like maybe Harry had seen her around the school before, in some of his classes, but he couldn't recall her name. He looked up at the hourglass and saw it was slowly filling with more rubies, and he was confused. Why would someone from another house purposely give Gryffindor more points? Maybe she had meant to give Ravenclaw more, but messed up.

Harry nodded up at the giant hourglass. "Did you do that?"

The girl nodded slowly. "Y...yes. Please, don't tell anyone. I promise I'll do whatever I can to fix it." Harry noticed that the girl looked a little disgusted with herself for pleading with him.

He tried to keep his voice gentle, since it was obvious the girl wanted to take off. "You can start by telling me your name."

She gulped. "Uh… Danni-ella." Harry frowned, and she shook her head. "Sorry. Daniella." She gave him a smirk, and the scared look was gone from her face, though Harry could still see the fright in her eyes, so he knew it was just an act. "And who are you?"

Harry raised one eyebrow, but decided to play along, at least for now. "Oh, you've probably never heard of me. My name is Harry."

Danni shrugged. "That's such a basic name." Then she blushed, and ducked her head down so she was staring intently at the floor. She spoke in a mumble. "Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

Harry shrugged. "I think you might have. But don't worry, I don't mind. But I do want to know why you're giving extra points to the wrong house."

Danni shook her head. "I thought that if I gave Gryffindor more points, it would look like they cheated, so they would all get in trouble."

Harry tilted his head to the side. "Why would you want to get Gryffindor in trouble?"

Danni peered up from underneath the hair covering the top half of her face, and she looked angry. "Because they all love you soo much. Like you're so great. They worship you like a god, but you're not special. You didn't do anything to save yourself from You-Know-Who other than having a loving mother, and that wasn't some great accomplishment by you. You're not that special, not at all. You're just a boy. Nothing more."

Harry was surprised at that outburst. Even people who blatantly hated him had never come out and spoken so frankly to him. This girl was clearly afraid, but that hadn't stopped her from speaking her mind. And the way she spoke… no one had ever talked to him like that before in his life, and it almost felt… refreshing. To think that there were people who didn't love him because of his fame.

He felt an idea begin to form in his mind, and he grinned. "Alright, I won't turn you in, I promise." Danni let out a breath of air she hadn't been holding. But Harry wasn't finished yet. "And, in exchange, I want you to hang out with me."

Danni jerked her head up to stare at him in disbelief. "What?!"

He shrugged. "Well, if you hate me so much, then that will be your punishment." Harry felt a little selfish. He only gave her that ultimatum because he wanted to hang out with her and talk with her more, but he knew she would never willingly accompany him anywhere.

Danni glared at him, but he wasn't backing down. She knew that she really had no choice. If she refused, then she would be expelled for sure, and her parents would be so disappointed in her. So she took a deep gulp of air, then let it all out. As much as she hated Harry and all his Gryffindor groupies, she could endure them if it meant he would keep his mouth shut. "... Fine…"

Harry grinned without realizing it. "Good. Oh, and you also need to reverse that spell or whatever it is you did to give us more points."

Danni turned around towards the giant hourglasses with a frown. If looks could kill, then Harry would be dead, and Voldemort would have one more thing to cross off of his to do list. She held up her wand arm, and murmured the second part to the made up incantation, and moved the wand with a slight flick of the wrist.

The extra rubies vanished, leaving the Gryffindor hourglass as full as it had been before Danni started messing with it. She turned back towards the boy who lived. "How long do I have to hang out with you?"

Harry was a little unnerved. He had never expected to hear so much reluctance to be in his company from anyone outside of Draco Malfoy and his groupies. "Um… I don't know. Maybe two months? That sounds fair."

Danni's eyes widened at the prospect of hanging out with her least favorite person for so long. She wasn't stupid, though, so she decided to barter her way through this. "How about two weeks instead?"

Harry raised his eyebrows slightly. He hadn't expected a counter offer. He would have to learn how to expect the unexpected when it came to this girl. "Six weeks."

Danni shook her head. "Six weeks and one hundred galleons."

Harry sighed. "One month and ten galleons, and that's my final offer."

Danni pretended to think about it for a moment, even though she already knew her answer. She had cut her torture time in half, and gotten money out of it, in exchange for Harry not tattling on her. It was an easy decision. She held out her hand. "Fine, deal."

Harry grabbed her hand as though he was going to shake it, but he pulled her closer to him instead. He whispered, "That's not how we seal deals where I'm from," and he breathed the gentlest kiss Danni had ever felt across her lips. Then he let go and stepped back. "We should probably get back to our respective dorms before anyone notices that we're out of bed past curfew."

Danni nodded, annoyed at Harry's forwardness. Then a thought struck her. "Wait, what were you doing down here after curfew in the first place?"

He grinned. "It's a secret."

Danni was tempted to read his mind, but decided against it. She wouldn't survive the next month if she let herself know everything there was to Harry Potter, when she could barely stand him with the information she already had.

She watched him walk away, then sunk down to the floor. She sat on the cold marble, her back leaned up against the platform the the teachers' table was on. For the first time in a while, her brain wasn't whirring with activity and trying to solve everything that was wrong. She didn't even care that she was breaking the rules anymore. There wasn't any consequence the teachers could administer, save expulsion, that were worse than Harry Potter's punishment.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry that this chapter is so short, I just got home, and I knew that if I didn't work on it right away, I would somehow find a ton of excuses not to do it today. Please review, reviews of any kind make me happy.**

Danni's eyes darted around the great hall at breakfast the next morning. There were so many students milling about, and it wouldn't be her fault if she somehow didn't get to bump into Harry. She spotted the mop of messy black hair and red and gold robes all the way across the hall, and she sighed with relief. After all, it wasn't her fault if he didn't see her around.

She turned around, and jumped back with a start. She tilted her head back to glance up, and saw Harry standing there, a knowing grin on his face. "Danni. So good to see you again. How's it going?"

Danni cleared her throat nervously. "I'm fine. But umm, I don't think I can hang out with you right now. We're supposed to eat at our own tables."

Harry's grin widened. "Don't worry, I already thought of that." He patted his stomach, which seemed to have expanded quite a lot in just a few hours. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back out into the empty hallway. He let a red and gold robe slide out from underneath his robes, and held it out. "I asked Hermione if I could borrow her old robes from our second year. They should fit you. And don't worry, I already filled all my friends in, and they won't tell on you."

Danni snatched the robes with a scowl. She shed her blue ones, and slipped on the strange ones that felt worn in. She noted with discomfort that the robes fit her perfectly. Harry pulled her back inside, and led her to the Gryffindor table. They sat down in the same section as all of Harry's friends, and Danni had to repress a frown.

Harry was sitting on one side of her, and Hermione and Ron were on the other. Hermione smiled when she saw Danni's face, mistaking the annoyance for nervousness. "Don't worry, we won't tell on you. I can understand being in love." Her eyes flickered over to the ginger sitting next to her.

Danni angled herself so she could glare at Harry without the others noticing. She hissed under her breath at him. "What the bloody hell did you tell them?"

Harry shrugged. "I couldn't exactly tell them about our deal. They would want to know what I promised you in exchange, and then I would have to tell them about what you were doing."

Danni slouched down a little. She opened her mind to get a glimpse of what Harry's best friends were thinking. She focused on Hermione first. "_I can't believe he's stupid enough to believe every whore who says she likes him for who he is. He's going to get in so much trouble, and it's all going to be her fault."_

Danni shook her head, and tried not to get discouraged. She focused on Ron next. "_As soon as Harry saw her enter the hall, he's only had eyes for her. I'm his best friend, he should talk to me more than some girl."_

Danni's eyes stung with tears that she had to force back. She wouldn't be able to take much more of this. She clamped her eyes shut, and concentrating on turning off all the voices bombarding her mind. Whenever she was emotionally distraught, she would lose control of her power.

Just as she was finding her silent place, somewhere deep in her mind, she was jolted back to reality by a brief squeeze of her hand. She cracked one eye open. Harry was holding her hand comfortingly, tracing circles lightly on the back of her hand. But he was still talking animatedly with all his friends, making no indication that he wasn't one hundred percent focused on them.

She really wanted to know what he was thinking now, but she also knew that she didn't want to know. She wasn't sure what exactly she would want to hear emanating from his mind, but she fairly certain that whatever he was thinking wouldn't be it.

Danni took a few deep breaths and started to stand up, but Harry refused to let go of her hand. If she stood up now, everyone would see the intimate gesture. She shifted awkwardly on the bench, and Harry also shifted, almost simultaneously. Danni thought her eyes were going to bug out of her head.

He had pulled her closer to him, and they were literally sitting hip to hip. No one had ever really told Danni what to do in this situation. And the way they were angled apart from each other made it appear that they were still several inches apart, so none of his friends were going to come to her rescue.

After what seemed like forever, breakfast was over, and all of Danni's instincts were telling her to just dart away now. Harry probably wouldn't be able to find her in the confusing crowd of hundreds of students pouring out into the hallways. But Harry didn't let go of her hand, even as his friends got up and left. He suddenly slid underneath the table, and pulled Danni under with him.

Heavy footsteps, most likely a teacher, tappe across the hall to make one final check that everything was in order, and everyone had left the cavernous room. When the footsteps got closer to them, Harry pressed his hand against Danni's mouth and shushed into her ear. Then the footsteps kept going, and there was a loud bang as the doors slammed shut.

They were once again alone in the great hall.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry that it took me so long to update, I had a ton of work to do, and I sort of forgot where I was going with this story, but now I've remembered again, and hopefully you all like the direction it's taking. If you think things are developing too fast, I can change it. Please review :)**

Harry looked over at Danni as they were crouched under the table, and he could literally hear her heart beating. He stood up, and pulled her up with him. He gave her a concerned look. "What's wrong? I get that you don't like me, but what made you suddenly want to bolt?"

Danni shook her head. She couldn't tell Harry that she could read minds. He would probably tell all his friends, and they would have a good laugh about it. She mumbled softly. "I just wanted to get away from you."

Harry let go of her hand, and she almost whimpered at the loss of his warmth. She could see the hurt look in his eyes, and she told herself she didn't care. After all, she had always hated him, and actually meeting him just last night wasn't going to change that. And he shouldn't look so sad, he knew from the start that Danni didn't like him.

Harry pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. He saw that Danni looked uncomfortable, and he just wanted to feel hurt that someone disliked him that much. But then he noticed that she was squirming awkwardly, and had a guilty look in her eyes. She felt bad for hurting his feelings. That meant that she couldn't hate him that much, right?

He crossed his arms over his chest. "And that's the only reason you wanted to leave."

Danni nodded stubbornly, then spoke as she thought of another thing. "Well, I also wanted to talk to my friends, but you dragged me away from them."

Harry felt like that wasn't everything, but he didn't want to push it. He hadn't actually considered that she had just wanted to eat a simple breakfast with his friends. Danni started to shrug off the red robes. "If you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my dorm. I need to grab my books and stuff."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "What class do you have first?"

"Transformations."

Harry shrugged. "Skip it." He laughed at Danni's horrified look.

Her eyebrows were practically sitting at her hairline, she raised them so much. "Are you serious? You may be able to get away with things like that, but I would get detentions for a month."

"But wouldn't it be worth it just to hang out with me?" The look on Danni's face was priceless.

She spluttered, until she was able to think of a good argument. "If I get detentions for a month, that means thirty less hours that I have to hang out with you, so you're right, it's absolutely worth it."

Harry shrugged again. "Just tell them you were helping me with my homework or something. Then they won't be able to give you any punishment."

Danni shook her head. "You just think you're so above the rest of us, don't you?"

Harry grinned. "Well, yeah, I did defeat V-" Danni pressed her hands against his mouth.

She hissed at him. "Are you crazy? I don't care who you are, you can't just go around saying his name as easily as you can say soup."

Harry frowned. "I think soup is a pretty difficult word. Maybe we should just rename soup you-know-who, because then whenever we talk about soup, people will give us funny looks." Danni looked a little shocked that Harry had spoken right into her hands.

She pulled her hands away, and wiped them on the side of her skirt. At Harry's confused look, she said, "Potter cooties." which caused Harry to burst out laughing.

"Seriously? Cooties? That's like… so childish."

Danni glanced up at the giant hourglasses, and Harry turned around to follow her gaze. As soon as he turned around, Danni dashed for the door, not caring that she was still wearing Hermione's old robes.

But she hadn't realized how fit Harry was, since Quidditch training was pretty intense. He had heard her pounding footsteps, and caught up with her right away. He grabbed the robes, and tugged too hard, sending Danni toppling to the ground, and Harry fell on top of her.

Danni was only still for a moment before she started trying to wiggle out from under Harry, who had her pinned to the ground. She shoved his chest, but he barely moved. "Hey, are you going to move or what? I already told you that I need to get to class."

Harry nodded. "Alright. Feel free to go at anytime." He didn't make any effort to move, just stayed where he was, and Danni kept pushing against him, trying to get out.

After a few minutes, she gave up, and just laid there, silently fuming. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Someone is going to walk in here any minute now."

Harry smiled. "Let them. Who cares?" When Danni grimaced, he couldn't help letting his smile grow. "What's the matter? Afraid this would ruin your reputation as the Harry Potter hater?"

Danni frowned. "Maybe I wouldn't hate you so much if you didn't always act like you're better than everyone else. The majority of Slytherin house are good people, but you judge them all as bad because a small group of them think they are better than everyone else. You also think you're better than everyone else though, so you're no better than them. But I don't judge the entire Gryffindor house because of you a few others."

Harry nodded slowly. "I see. Well the thing is… I am better than everyone else. I don't see you defeating grown mountain trolls or the basilisk or any of the other things I've done."

Danni pouted for a moment. "But you wouldn't have fought that troll if you hadn't been so mean to Hermione, and Ron is the one who beat a chess game to let you get to the stone or whatever, and Hermione is the one who made the polyjuice potion and helped you find the basilisk, and Dumbledore has always given you special treatment, and if I was in the same circumstances as you…"

Harry grinned. "Alright. But can you do this?" He rolled off of Danni and stood up. He pulled out his wand and waved it in front of him. "_Expecto patronum._" There was a silver light, and then a life sized silver stag was standing in the middle of the great hall.

Danni slowly stood up, her eyes wide. "You can do the patronus charm? That is…" she caught herself before she said anything too complimentative. "...okay, I guess. I mean, if you're into that kind of thing. But since the dementors work for the ministry of magic, it's not like you'll ever need that, right? So it's mediocre. There are more useful things you could learn."

Harry laughed. "You're right, that's hardly impressive at all. Do tell me what spells you can do ahead of everyone else in our year?'

Danni smirked. "Did you forget who was messing with the balance of the rubies last night?"

Harry nodded. "Touche. I guess we are equally matched, then. So maybe I'm better than most people… but I know that I'm not better than you." And despite Danni furiously telling herself that that wasn't even anything, a bright red blush spread across her face, much to Harry's amusement.

Then she realized that she was free, and she sprinted away. She really didn't want to miss any classes, and McGonagall was such a strict professor. Harry watched her go, but made no move to follow after her. He was confident that he would see her again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I've had midterms at school, which are a major pain that shouldn't exist, but they do. And I'm sorry if I got any details about the layout of the school wrong, it's been a while since I've watched or read any of the Harry Potter series since I've been so busy. Please review, it makes it so much easier to continue the story when you do. :)**

**A/N I do not own anything in this story, unfortunately. If I did, I would be rich and British.**

Danni breathed in the fresh air as she lounged around in the courtyard with a couple of her friends. They weren't really slacking off, they all had thick textbooks laid out in front of them, and they were all studying together. Danni's mind wasn't completely focused on the material, though. She had managed to avoid Harry all day yesterday after breakfast, and all morning today.

But now he was marching into the courtyard with his band of merry followers, and they were all talking and laughing, and it looked like fun. Danni almost caught herself wishing she could join them. But she banished the traitorous thoughts. Hermione and Ron hadn't approved of her, and she didn't want to mess up Harry's social life…

Danni glanced over at the red and gold clad troupe, and she smirked. Why shouldn't she sabotage Harry's social life? She would just do everything possible to mess up his relationships, and simultaneously make him back out of their deal.

She gulped nervously. She had never just gone right up to anyone from Harry's clique, and she wasn't sure she was brave enough to do it now. She turned around as she heard her own friends grumble impatiently. "Danni, I've said your name like ten times already. What's distracting you? This is important stuff if you want to pass your exams."

Danni shrugged. "Everyone else in the other houses always seem to do just fine, even if they don't study this hard. Maybe if we just loosened up and had a little find, it would be easier to focus on the tests later."

Sarah shook her head firmly. "That's just excuses and procrastination. And yes, those other guys are able to pass those exams, but how many of them actually go on to do something with their lives? They don't get scores nearly high enough for magical professions."

Danni pushed her chair back and stood up. She stretched her arms. "I'm going to relax a little. I doubt that missing an hour of studying is going to become a life or death situation."

She began to walk over to the noisy Gryffindors, and she could feel the heat of her friends' gazes on her back. She tried to look casual, but she imagined that she was walking like a very stiff robot. She sidled right up to Harry, then pulled him into a surprise hug. She felt him stiffen as his guard was raised, but when he turned around and saw who it was, his muscles relaxed again.

He smiled like she was a pleasant surprise. "Danni," he said warmly. "I would have thought you'd prefer to continue studying."

Danni shrugged. "Too bad studying can fry your brain. And even if I do have the brain cells to spare, unlike some people," she gave Harry a pointed look. "that doesn't mean I'm willing to sacrifice all of mine just because there's a few tests coming up."

She tilted her head and focused on Hermione's mind. "_Seriously? Ravenclaws' only assets are their brains, and now they're just going to let those go to? I don't want to be mean, but she really is pushing to be close to Harry, and that makes me nervous. All the people who have tried to get close to him end up betraying him, and I don't want to see him hurt again."_

Danni allowed a small inwards smile. Maybe his friends were just over protective. That seemed noble, and she almost felt jealous. Sure, her friends were loyal to her, but she knew that they weren't close enough that any of them would ever risk their lives for her the way Harry's friends had for him. She moved away from Hermione, and focused on Ron's mind.

"_This girl again? Is she going to become some kind of regular groupie? And why is Harry flirting back with her? I thought he liked Cho. He's not being very smart right now."_

Danni groaned to herself. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe there was nothing admirable about Harry's friends other than the fact that they appeared to care for him. She couldn't get specifics though, since she could only hear what a person was thinking at the moment that she decided to listen in. It was usually pretty easy to get people to think about what she wanted them to, but now was not the time.

She glanced back, and saw her study buddies staring at her with shocked looks on their faces. They had no idea what had possessed their friend to approach one of the most famous faces in the wizarding world, and they wanted to know why she was acting like she and Harry were best friends.

Danni wasn't exactly sure what was driving her right now, either. She was the one who had wanted to avoid him, and now here she was, going out of her way to talk to him. Partly she wanted to prove to herself that she was brave enough to do it. And partly she wanted to embarrass him in front of his friends. But the second part wasn't working out so well, since as soon as he saw her, Harry didn't deviate his attention from Danni. She had to force back the blush that was spreading from the back of her neck.

She decided that it was too late to run away now. "So, how have you been?"

Harry smiled boyishly. "After last night, I couldn't have been better all day."

Now Danni couldn't stop her face from turning the color of a tomato. She was mortified. And even though he had that innocent expression, Danni knew that he understood perfectly what he had just said. She couldn't help hearing the thoughts of Hermione, which were practically screams inside her head. "_He SLEPT with that SKANK?! WHAT was he THINKING!? This is TERRIBLE!"_

Danni gulped, and forced herself not to jump forward and throttle the bushy haired girl right then and there. She blinked rapidly, and her obviously flustered look didn't make her look any more innocent. She knew that she could say, 'It's not what it sounds like,' or something like that, but it wouldn't matter. The judgements had already been made.

She mumbled under her breath. "Umm… sorry, I have to go umm, do something…" She trailed off lamely, then turned around and ran out of the courtyard as fast as she could. Only a small group of people had overheard, but that was enough for the rumors to start spreading like a wildfire.

And now any feeling less than hate that Danni had thought she had felt were gone. Pure hate, that's all she felt. Harry would probably be congratulated for his 'conquest', since Danni thought she was pretty attractive. But they would call her a slut, or a whore, or come up with names that were a million times worse.

Danni ran through the hallways, not bumping into many people. Most people were hanging around outside since it was such a gorgeous day. Her shoes tapped against the stone floors with each step. She started to head to her dorm rooms, but changed her mind halfway there. That would be the first place that Sarah and the others would look for her. Even if they tried to comfort her, Danni wasn't sure they could say anything to negate Harry's stupid word choice.

She paused to gasp for breath, and watched with amazement as the wall next to her opened into a doorway. She peered inside and saw a winding staircase, and as unfamiliar as it was, it had to be better than facing the crowds of malicious students. As soon as she stepped inside, the opening behind her closed, and the stairs began to move up on their own, like an escalator.

Danni walked down a very short hallway once she reached the top of the stairs, and she looked around in amazement at the vast office she was standing in. Then she froze when she saw the giant portrait of Professor Dumbledore on the wall. She was in his office. But she hadn't been invited. She had never heard of someone getting in without him letting them, but she must have somehow activated some magical switch that controlled the door and stairs.

She closed her eyes and reached out her mind, and she was certain that there was no one around other than the fiery red bird perched on a small wooden bar. She decided to look around. If she was going to get in trouble for breaking in, which she inevitably would, she might as well get something out of it.

Danni went over to the desk and tried the drawers, but they were all locked. She shrugged. She wasn't going to actually try and unseal the mysterious headmaster's private business. She went up the small flight of stairs, and found herself standing on a wide balcony. She went up to the rail and looked down.

She thought she was going to feel vertigo, but instead she only felt exhilaration. She felt like she was high enough up to touch the clouds if she just stretched up a little bit. She laughed, and then spun around as she felt the presence of a very powerful mind. She knew without even looking that it was Dumbledore. And she knew that there was no way she wasn't going to get in deep trouble for this.

**Again, sorry for the wait. And if you leave a review, I promise to give you all cake :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry that it's been so long since I updated, and that this chapter seems a little shorter than the rest. I was just trying to give Harry some redeemable qualities, since I made him such an ass before. As always, please review**

Harry had known he made the wrong call as soon as he had watched Danni run away. he thought maybe he could just tease her some more and elicit that adorable blush from her. Instead, it seemed that he had humiliated her. He turned to his friends calmly. "I was just joking. I never spent the night with her. You understand that, right?"

Ron and Hermione shot each other a knowing look, then turned back to Harry with blank faces. They both gave a terse nod, and moved to leave the courtyard. Harry let them go. He deserved a little isolation for being an asshole.

He sighed, and decided that it was kind of his duty to chase after Danni. He started to go, but froze when he heard snickering behind him. He turned around, and wanted to roll his eyes at the vulgar gestures his classmates were making. He sighed. As important as it was to go after Danni and make sure she was okay, it was even more important to protect her reputation that had been sullied by his words.

He approached the two guys, and saw with annoyance that they were wearing green robes, Slytherins. They both gave him winning smiles, and the bigger one spoke up. "Hey man, congratulations. Looks like your fame is good for something after all."

Harry frowned politely, and spoke with a calm tone that made him sound like he had nowhere he would rather be. "And what would that be?"

The boy grinned. "Shagging hot little nerds like that, for one!" He turned to high five his friend. Harry mentally stepped back to assess the situation. He was outnumbered, and he didn't want to risk getting in trouble for using magic against another student.

"Hey, knock it off. I was only kidding."

The guy shrugged. "Figures. You're too scrawny to get any action anyways. But hey, it certainly sounds good. Besides, what's the harm in letting your reputation grow a little?"

Harry raised one eyebrow. "I don't know why I should get more respect because of rumors that are hurtful towards another person."

The boy sneered. "Trying to take the high road like always, Potty? Well I think it's our duty to drag you down a little bit. We wouldn't want you getting a swelled head, thinking you're better than us."

Harry continued to talk as though it was a pleasant and calm discussion, even as the bully got more worked up. "But it's only fair for me to think I'm better than you, since it's the truth. And Danni? She's ten times the person I'll ever be. Which makes her one hundred times the person you could ever possibly hope to become."

The Slytherin stopped for a moment, to think most likely. Harry could practically hear the gears turning in the thick skull. "Hey, would a better man really be that derogatory?" The boy grinned with satisfaction, like he was proud of himself for using a word that had more than four syllables.

Harry shrugged. "It's my right to be, considering how I am better than you. But that doesn't really matter. The point is, leave Danni alone."

The shorted boy finally decided to speak up. He made sloppy kissing noises. "Ooooh… Potter's in love with the bookworm!"

He laughed, and Harry clenched his fists. He had to force back the urge to whip out his wand and start spouting every spell he could think of. And surprisingly, it wasn't the attacks on himself that were so provoking, it was the way they were attacking Danni. She was a good person, even if she did try to get Gryffindor in trouble, and she didn't deserve what these guys were saying about her.

He straightened his back and stood tall, now standing eye level with the bigger of the two boys. "What was that? I could have sworn I just heard your buddy there saying the word 'love'." He raised his voice so that almost everyone in the courtyard could hear him. "You two are in love? That's so adorable. I hope you're happy together."

Almost immediately, there was a swarm of girls surrounding the two boys. For some reason, girls were always itching to make a gay friend, and hearing them ask if they could go shopping together a million times would be an adequate punishment.

Harry took the opportunity to escape, and found himself wandering back towards the Great Hall. A grin played across his lips as he remembered when he first saw Danni. He mentally scolded himself for being nostalgic over something that literally happened less than a day ago. But he walked with a puffed up swagger, feeling like the hero who just defeated the evil villain to rescue the damsel in distress. His grin grew wider at the thought of his damsel in distress.


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry it's so short, I like the chapters that have both characters together better. I was very surprised at the number of views this story has gotten since it was just written on a whim for a friend. Thank you to everyone who has read it so far, and thank you to everyone who has reviewed it.**

**A/N I do not own anything from the Harry Potter franchise. If I did I would retire from my fanfiction writing career.**

Danni felt Dumbledore's eyes on her as they both watched the scene in the courtyard below unfold. Now Harry was storming off, quickly out of sight, and even though she hadn't been able to hear the exchange, she had a feeling that he had been defending her. If anyone asked, she would deny the spurt of happiness she felt at that thought.

She turned to the headmaster, ready to accept punishment for breaking into his office. He was just smiling pleasantly. "Hello, it's good to see you. Daniella, right?"

Danni nodded slowly, unsure of what was going to happen next. She tried not to make it too obvious as she let her mind slip a little, into the older man's. "_What a pleasant surprise. She's the one Harry told me about. She must be special indeed to catch his eye." _Danni blushed at the words that hadn't been said out loud. Harry had just been torturing her this whole time, right? She hadn't actually… caught his eye?

She cleared her throat. "Yes sir. I'm really sorry for breaking into your office, sir. I accept any punishment that you deem fit."

Dumbledore arched one eyebrow, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "Oh, that won't be necessary. You wouldn't have been able to get in here if you weren't given permission." Danni pressed her mouth into a flat line. She peered into the wizard's mind again. "_Yes… there is definitely something special about her, I can feel it. What a unique child."_

Danni shifted on her feet. "Sir? Why would you want to meet me?"

"_Ah, humble too. Such a rare quality in children these days." _He smiled. "Well, it's actually to discuss a… problem. One that I think you may be able to help me with."

"Sir?"

Dumbledore reached up to push back his glasses, which were getting a little too close to falling off his nose. "Yes. It has come to my attention that sometime between dinner last night and breakfast this morning, someone was tampering with the house points."

Danni gulped. There was no way it was a coincidence if he was calling her out on her crime. But she wasn't just going to confess. She was in the unique position to actually see what he knew before she gave herself up. "_Two teachers saw one Daniella Cobb roaming the hallways last night, around the time the sabotage must have happened." _

Dani tried to keep her face blank. He may suspect her, but that wouldn't be enough for him to convict her. "How would I be able to help?"

"Well, I know that the hourglasses are designed specifically so that only the staff has the authority to take or give points. It would take a very intelligent and talented person to create a way to override that system. Ravenclaw, your house, has a reputation for having many smart and creative students." "_From her grades, I would say that she is absolutely smart enough to come up with it on her own. But why? She has no quarrel with Gryffindor as far as I can tell."_

Danni shrugged. "True." she was privately acknowledging both counts, not just the one that she was supposed to hear. "But I still don't understand how I can help."

Dumbledore's grin didn't go away. "I was hoping you would be able to figure out a way to

mess with the house points. When you do, I will be able to narrow down the list of suspects to those who are most likely in your league."

Danni gulped. She let herself get a little angry. Harry had to have tattled on her. How else would he know that anything had gone on other than her wandering the hallways? "Sir? How were you made aware of someone's attempt to cheat?"

"There was an extra ruby in the Gryffindor hourglass. I suspect that whoever did this regrette the idea of cheating, and tried to erase the crime. But one extra gem was left behind."

Danni now felt more furious with herself than with Harry. She had gotten careless. It would most likely be her fault when they got caught, which was inevitable. The headmaster wasn't the type of person to just let something so terrible go, and she was on his radar. "_Harry should have shared his cloak with her. I wonder what he was doing wandering around so late as well?"_

Danni coughed. "Sir, I would be honored to help you catch the one who was messing with the hourglasses. And don't worry, I'll be diligent in finding that spell."

"Of course. You may leave now."

Danni nodded, and scampered out of the office. She took the moving staircase, and it dropped her off where it had picked her up. She shook her head and started towards the dorms. Maybe then she would be able to clear her head and start thinking of a plan. Because if she didn't come up with something, and fast, then she was totally screwed.

**Please review :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**I know that this story is going really slowly, and there really hasn't been a lot of action, this chapter included. I hope to bring some more excitement soon, hopefully with the next chapter. Please review, if you do I'll love you forever :)**

Harry let the soft satiny material run through his fingers. It was half past eight, the lights out time for all students fourth year and below. And he should be changing into his pyjamas and getting into bed as well by this time.

But there was a possibility, however slim, that Danni was going to be roaming the halls after hours again. Probably not right away, like they had last night, it was safer to wait until the older students were in bed as well. He glanced around, and heard the voices from the common room getting louder. He slipped into his bed, still wearing his clothes, and pulled his blanket up to his neck. He closed his eyes and made his breaths deeper.

When the other boys entered the room, they quieted down when they saw Harry sleeping. They changed and got into bed, and when the lights went out, the room was silent. Harry opened his eyes and pushed his blanket back. With the chilly draft hitting him, he wouldn't accidentally fall asleep.

He waited for a while, at least an hour after the older students had gone to bed, before standing up. He grabbed his cloak and pulled it over his head. He carefully made his way to the Great Hall, making sure to avoid teachers and ghosts. He got nervous around them even though they couldn't actually see him.

He slipped into the Great Hall, and even though he had been hoping to see Danni, he wasn't hoping like this. He could see her, staring intently at the hourglasses. Occasionally she wrote something down in the journal that was sitting open on the table next to her, and then she would try some random spell. Harry watched in shock for several minutes. Was she seriously trying to figure out another way to sabotage the house points?

He was going to try and surprise her, but she spoke first. "I know you're there, Harry Potter. And you should probably leave before you get caught."

He shrugged, even though she couldn't see him. He was disappointed she had heard him, though. He would have to practice walking quieter. "And how do think that I would be the one caught when I'm the invisible one right now?"

She shrugged, still not turning to face him as she scribbled down more notes. "The headmaster seems like the type of person to know you're there, even if you are technically invisible." She tensed, and then hissed at him. "Stay absolutely silent. Don't even breathe if you can help it."

A moment later, Harry froze at the sound of footsteps coming up behind him. He wanted to scurry out of the way so he wouldn't get bumped into, but it was too risky to even take a single step on those stone floors. Dumbledore brushed by, inches away from stepping right into Harry. He went over to Danni, who must have had really good hearing to know when the old man was close.

Harry thought for sure that Danni was going to be in trouble now, and there was nothing he could… he got an idea. He was just about to whip off his cloak and claim he had forced the girl to do it, when he realized that Dumbledore didn't sound angry at all. In fact, he sounded rather pleasant. "Daniella. I'm pleased to see that you decided to take initiative and start on this project right away. It really is imperative that we find the student who was trying to cheat."

Harry's eyes widened. The way Dumbledore was talking made it sound like he had no idea who had committed the act of sabotage. But Harry knew by now that the headmaster was always the smartest person in the room. He had to know that it was Danni. Maybe he was trying to teach her some life lesson or something, but the point is that he knew. Because somehow that old man always knew everything.

Danni gulped. "Yes sir. We won't let the perpetrator stay invisible for much longer. They may run, but we'll find them, sir."

Harry realized with a start that Danni was talking to him. Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes, they won't be able to run. But they might get away with a slow walk, perhaps a tiptoe." And Harry got the eerie feeling that the older wizard was also talking to him. He wasn't going to stick around to hear the rest of a conversation that seemed to be directed at him.

He walked away, as silently and slowly as possible. He saw that the large doors had been left ajar when Dumbledore entered, and the space was just big enough for him to slip through unnoticed. One he was at the end of the hallway, he ran for all he was worth, not slowing down until he was right outside the picture frame that led to the Gryffindor common room.

Once he was back in his bed, still fully clothed, he stopped to think. What if Danni was still angry about him? About what he said earlier? And then to top it off, she probably thinks that he tattled on her. She wasn't stupid, she had to realize that Dumbledore knows. Harry wondered what exactly she was working on with Dumbledore to help 'catch' the student who had cheated.

Then he fell asleep, eager for morning to come. He would volunteer to sit at Danni's table instead of dragging her back to his, where she had clearly felt uncomfortable. He would listen to everything she had to say, even if she was just in the mood to scream at him. And hopefully, after profusely apologizing, she would realize that he hadn't meant to hurt her so much with that one suggestive comment.


	9. Chapter 9

**So, I've decided that I'm going to start using the plot from the actual fourth book, but I'm really sorry to say that it's not exactly going to be the way JK Rowling wrote it. I'm going to sort of throw it in where it works for my story. I hope that you can like it even though it's not quite right.**

Danni didn't bother checking her surroundings. That was probably her first mistake as she headed outside to enjoy the weekend. She was suddenly slammed into a wall, and found herself being held in place by one boy while two others stood there, grinning.

She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, but before they could even say anything to her, a crowd of people stampeded by. They all wanted to get outside like she did. She took the opportunity to slip away and blend in with the crowd. She didn't care about that incredibly good timing. She didn't notice Harry standing around the corner, smiling.

Danni had originally planned with studying with her friends today, but now she wasn't so sure that she wanted to. After everything she had said yesterday about needing to relax and take a break, she didn't want to seem like a hypocrite by going right back to studying. So instead, she decided that she would wander the grounds a little, explore.

She had been a student at that gigantic school for four years now, but she had always been too immersed in her classes to ever actually just take a leisurely walk around. She had an apple and a water bottle that she had grabbed during lunch, so that she would have a snack and a way to stay hydrated.

Most of the students who were racing outside were heading towards the quidditch field. There must be a practice or something going on. But Danni wasn't particularly in the mood to be around so many people, so she began heading in the opposite direction. She laughed nervously when she realized that she had been walking in the direction of the Forbidden Forest for the past ten minutes.

She shook her head. No way she was going in there. Then she blushed at the accounts of when Harry had been in the forest. A couple of times at this point. And that just meant that he was braver than her, since he was able to not run away screaming. Danni wasn't screaming, but she was practically running as she turned to go. She paused though, as she saw the groundskeeper leaving his hut, a little further down.

There was a strange man with him, and Danni frowned. She had walked by Professor Moody's classroom on her way to freedom, and he had been in there, talking to a small group of students. There was no way he would have been able to get to the hut before her, and have time for any sort of conversation at all, yet there he was.

She watched as the half giant went back into his hut after saying their goodbyes, though Danni wasn't close enough to actually hear them. She felt the strange instinct to hide, but that wasn't right. He was a teacher, and even if he was a little weird, and missing one of his eyes, there was no reason to hide.

It's not like she had been specifically eavesdropping or following him around or anything like that. He suddenly glanced her way, and Danni froze in place. He started to walk towards her, and she gulped. His mind was sending out waves of something sinister, and it made Danni shiver.

She was too scared to even think to read his mind as he got closer. Danni glanced around, but there was no one nearby, not since everyone had gathered on the quidditch fields for some reason. Then, before she could tell herself not to, she was off. She sprinted as fast as she could back to where everyone else was gathered. She heard pounding steps behind her, and realized with shock that she was being chased. Danni felt a sudden wave of thankfulness that she had been on the track team at her school before she had gone to Hogwarts. She had been keeping in shape and practicing running on her own since entering the magic school, and it was clear that she was faster than the teacher who was pursuing her.

Danni ran for several minutes before she could hear the loud buzz that all crowds seemed to make. After what seemed like forever, but was really only another minute, she got to the field, and once again immersed herself in the crowd. She slowed down immediately so that she could blend in easier. As her adrenaline continued pumping, it took her awhile to regain control and block out the sea of internal voices that were berating her mind.

She took deep breaths to calm her breathing. That had been scary. The way the Professor's mind had felt, without even reading his thoughts, was definitely wrong. It was nothing like it usually was whenever she was in his class. It was almost like it was a different person. Then she laughed nervously to herself. That would just be impossible, wouldn't it?


	10. Chapter 10

**I hope no one lynches me from straying so much from the original story, but I really need to make it work just for my story. I hope that you all like it. Thank you to everyone who has been reading and following, it really makes my day.**

**A/N I do not own Harry Potter or anything from his world**

Harry watched curiously as he saw the brunette's head bobbing through the crowd. He had been disappointed before, when she hadn't shown up, even though no one outside of Gryffindor had been invited to the unofficial house meeting. Tons of other kids had shown up anyways. They all wanted to know why the meeting had been called. Harry noticed that Danni's face was flushed, and he chuckled. Had she run all the way here?

Then he turned to pay attention to the upperclassmen who were standing in the bleachers so they could be seen over everyone else. One of them was holding the magical bullhorn that was used to make the announcements during a quidditch game. The first one to speak was a kid Harry recognized as a seventh year, Darnell. "I'm so glad so many people showed up. Was not expecting word to spread outside of Gryffindor at all. At all." he chuckled. "Well, I'm here now to talk to you all about this event called the triwizard tournament. It only takes place every five years. We're not sure exactly how, but one of us will be chosen to represent all of Hogwarts. We thought that everyone deserved a fair chance to know that. So do your best to impress your professors in any way possible if you want to be that one."

One of the other kids grabbed the bullhorn. "What my friend forgot to mention is that you have to be at least seventeen years old to be chosen. So I thought that we should all work together and chose one of us. We can't remember exactly how the choosing works, since we were only second years when we last witnessed it. But if we all band together to choose one contestant, that person is more likely to be chosen."

Some random student in the crowd shouted out. "What exactly is this tournament?"

Darnell took the bullhorn back. "It's a competition between us and two other schools, and you compete in some challenges to earn points to win the triwizard cup for your school. It's a very big deal."

Harry began pushing his way through the thick crowd as more students shouted out questions, and the older students fumbled to remember the details of the tournament. They said that it had been held one of the other schools last time, and only the sixth and seventh years at the time had been allowed to go, so the students who had been younger at the time couldn't watch the events.

Harry didn't really care. What was the point if he wasn't even old enough to be in it? And since it was only every five years, he would never get another chance after this. He shoved his way through the mass of people, and it took forever to get to Danni, who had placed herself in the center of the thickest knot of students.

He came up behind her, and put one hand on her shoulder. She spun around so fast it was like she was expecting a ghost to attack her or something. Not that the ghosts were really known for attacking people. Her eyes were wide, and she was practically panting. Harry cocked his head to the side, as if to ask her what was wrong.

She shook her head, and turned back to the excited kids on the bleachers. He wasn't taking no for an answer. Something had obviously spooked her, and to Harry's surprise, he actually wanted to know what. He was honestly interested. He grabbed her arm, perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary, and tugged her away.

Danni was small, and even though she was excellent at running, she wasn't strong enough to resist Harry. And he almost thought part of her looked relieved that he was being persistent. He pulled her outside, and raised his eyebrows. It was almost eerily silent. He had never noticed before that the walls of the field were sound proof, since he was always within the stands whenever other people were there.

He breathed out with mock annoyance. "So? What's up?"

Danni shrugged, even as she craned her neck to peer around in every direction, like she was afraid that they had been followed or something. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Harry shook his head. "Come on, I can tell that something's wrong. And if you don't tell me now, I will bother you until the end of time. So come on, spill. What's got you looking like you're about to die."

She gulped, and opened her mouth, and Harry smiled to himself. She was about to share, and that thought made him illogically happy for some reason. But then her eyes widened even more, if that was possible, and she took a sharp breath. Harry turned, and saw Professor Moody hobbling up to the stands.

Before he could really see them, Danni grabbed Harry's arm, and he was taken by surprise. She yanked him around the corner, and plastered herself flat against the canvas wall. She was forcing herself to take quieter breaths, and she motioned for Harry to do the same. He sighed. Maybe she was just crazy, and that was the end of it.

Curiously, he looked around the corner. The guy was gingerly looking inside the stadium, like he was afraid it was going to bite off his head or something. Harry turned back to Danni, to tell her that it was just a harmless teacher, and he frowned. She had closed her eyes, and her face looked more peaceful than he had ever seen it. Her head was tilted to the side, like she was trying to hear something better.

She opened her eyes suddenly, and Harry saw a familiar look. They were completely filled with fear. Her breathing sped up, and she put a finger over her lips to tell Harry to be silent. He was so confused. Why was she suddenly so utterly frightened? But if she really wanted him to comply, he would. How else would he prove that he's not such a bad person?

After a few minutes, Danni let a whoosh of air out of her mouth. She looked at Harry, and he couldn't tell what she was thinking. "I'm… I'm really sorry about that. I'm not usually that weird, it's just…"

"Just what?"

Danni shook her head. "Nothing. Sorry, but I have to go. I'll see you later, okay?"

And then she was off, before Harry could question her further about what had just happened. He looked around, and saw that the crazy teacher had already wandered off. He wanted to go after Danni, but he was cut off by the crowd spilling out from the stadium. If he knew how many times this crowd had saved Danni, he would have been unnerved by its constant perfect timing.


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry this one is kind of long (for me at least). I figured that since it's already obvious that Danni doesn't always follow the rules, it wouldn't be that much of a stretch for her to go sneaking around like this. Please read and enjoy and review. :)**

**A/N I do not own any thing even remotely related to Harry Potter **

Danni felt bad for running off on Harry earlier. But that person who was lumbering around looking like their crazy Professor was definitely not Mad-Eye Moody. She had taken the opportunity to read the guy's mind, and it had been a mess. Danni had figured out a long time ago that the crazier people thought in flashes of images rather than words. There were people being viciously murdered, and children screaming, and some kind of trial. There was Harry in several different situations, and a large gleaming silver goblet. with a blue fire floating in the middle.

The images had all flashed by so quickly, and the swirl of colors had made her feel nauseous. Even though there was probably more she could have learned, she couldn't stand to stay in the mind for even a moment more. Right now, she was just standing awkwardly outside the place that had opened into Dumbledore's office before.

She had gone straight to her room after running away from Harry, but all those scary muddy thoughts were still hanging around in her brain, and she thought she would never forget them. She wanted desperately to tell the old man that there was a twisted imposter running around the school, who had nefarious plans for Harry Potter. And if the picture of the death mark she had seen meant anything, the guy definitely wasn't working alone.

But right now she was in the middle of a giant moral dilemma. If she said something, and it turned out to be false, though she doubted that would be the case, she would look ridiculous. If she said something and the imposter figured out who told on him, he could try to hurt her. If she said something and wanted Dumbledore to believe her, she would have to share her precious secret.

On the other hand, if she said nothing, and the Professor was a mentally disturbed man, he could actually hurt himself or someone else. If she said nothing and it was an evil imposter, he could get away with his evil plan that would result in Harry's death. If she said nothing and it was an evil imposter, then she was basically just straight up helping him.

Danni really couldn't see any ways for this to be a successful conversation. She began to back away from the wall as she felt her stomach twisting into knots. She didn't want to talk to the old guy anyways, since that was just another chance for him to discover that she was the one who had tried to sabotage the house points.

She groaned with frustration. She hadn't really despised her gift in a while, not since she had learned to control it and use it for her needs. But right now, it felt like a terrible curse. If she was just a normal girl then she wouldn't have seen those spooky thoughts, and she wouldn't be awkwardly hovering outside Dumbledore's office. She shook her head, and turned away.

Danni shrugged it off. Maybe she had just imagined the whole thing, since she was already full of adrenaline from running away from the guy. She knew logically that she shouldn't have even been able to feel the guy's presence from so far away when he had been standing in Hagrid's doorway.

She turned around, almost expecting to bump into the headmaster. The man seemed to have a natural talent for popping up where he was least expected. But there was no one there. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Even hours after catching those glimpses of the imposter's mind, she was still shivering.

Danni began walking as quickly as she could. She didn't even care where, as long as it was away from the wise old man. She knew it was cowardly, but she had never promised that she would be brave. She took a sharp breath. She had always hated Harry behind his back, since in her eyes, he didn't deserve the attention and praise and fame that he had. He never would have succeeded on his own. But that was unimportant.

How had Danni never realized how brave Harry must be? He had gone through more in fifteen years than most people could go through in two lifetimes. She shuddered. Like most people, she only knew the main details of Harry Potter's adventures, but even those she could never imagine herself in. She really was a coward. Why had she never seen that before?

Danni sighed, and found her feet bringing her towards the area she knew held the Gryffindor dorm entrance. That was weird. How did her subconscious expect her to get in? Each house had a different hidden entrance and a password, and it's not like Danni was magically the expert on guessing entrances and passwords. Then she paused.

She didn't have to be an expert. She just had to find someone who was. She began walking quicker when she saw a flash of red and yellow. She made sure to stay a safe distance behind them as she read their minds. The tall one Danni vaguely recognized from that unofficial meeting earlier, but she had been more focused on staying alive than paying attention.

The pair stopped in front of a large painting of a very big woman. She grinned at them, and they both rolled their eyes. Danni was far enough away that she wouldn't be able to hear them out loud, since she didn't want to get caught. Some words were exchanged, but they just sounded like a muffled murmur to Danni. "_Quid Agis."_

The painted lady nodded, and the portrait swung away from the wall to reveal what looked like a cramped hallway. Danni watched, and waited until the painting was settled back on the wall. She wasn't sure exactly what she hoped to accomplish by gaining access to the Gryffindor common rooms, but her legs gave her no choice in the matter.

She found herself staring at the painting, and the fat lady raised one eyebrow. "May I help you?" she asked in a high pitched sing-song tone.

"Yeah, I need to get into the common room. I know this is where it is."

The lady looked suspiciously at Danni's blue and silver robes. Danni sighed, and decided that right now would be a good time to just walk away. Instead, she thought that now would be the perfect time to discover whether or not she could read the minds of the painting subjects, since they were technically living beings, and Danni could read animals, so why not pictures on the wall?

"_I wonder which idiot was telling people where to find the common rooms. I hope this doesn't end up like last year's incident. That was terrifying."_

Danni cleared her throat. "The thing is, I'm actually in Gryffindor." she tried to make her voice sound as confident as possible, with a little bit of shame. "I was working on various spells, and I think I mispronounced one of them, and the next thing I know, I look like this." she gestured at herself. "My robes got completely destroyed, so this girl lent me her robes, and she happens to be in Ravenclaw."

The lady still looked extremely suspicious, but a little sympathetic. "_That sounds like the kind of thing to happen to Seamus. He's such a clumsy little oaf." _"I still don't recognize you."

Danni tried to look a little insulted, and a little hurt. "It's me, Seamus. It's not my fault the spell went wrong, I swear I did everything the way I was supposed to… but… Well. The professor assured me that it wouldn't be permanent and advised me to go back to my room until it wears off."

The lady sighed, but she really didn't see any particularly alarming holes in that story. "Fine. What's the password?"

"Quid Agis."

The woman nodded, and the portrait swung away from the wall. Danni had to refrain from letting out a big sigh of relief. She entered the hallway, and heard the painting cover the wall again. She took a couple cautious steps forward, and found herself staring into the bustling Gryffindor common room.

She couldn't just get up and cross the room. Even if not everyone in the same house knew each other, they would still know that they had never seen her before. And she was still wearing Ravenclaw robes. But she really needed someone to talk to, and since it seemed to revolve around him, like everything else in the universe, Harry seemed like the person to talk to.

But she couldn't stand around in the doorway forever, either. Someone was bound to leave or come in, and they would catch her sulking in the shadows. That wouldn't work out. So she stepped out, and skirted the furniture around the fireplace, where most of the people were standing or sitting and talking and laughing.

She kept her head down so no one would see her, and walked at a steady pace so that she wouldn't catch someone's attention with a sudden movement. She carefully kept her mind open so that she would know if anyone saw her. She felt the alarm in her mind triggered almost immediately. She hadn't even spotted Harry yet, and she had already been caught.


	12. Chapter 12

**For some reason I am absolutely exhausted right now. My eyes were literally closed as I was typing this, and I can feel myself falling asleep. If it's too short or doesn't make any sense that's because I am so tired while doing this.**

**A/N I do not own anything from Harry Potter**

Harry ran a hand through his messy hair. No matter what he did, it refused to stay put. He shrugged. It was a school wide meeting, so there was no reason that he had to make himself look better. _Except to impress Danni, _his subconscious whispered to him. He shrugged it off. If she happened to bump into him to explain her crazy behavior, then Harry would listen, but he wouldn't go out of his way to seek her out.

Everyone was already gathered in the common room, presumably to start heading out to the meeting. From what Darnell had said earlier, he had a gut feeling that the headmaster would want to talk to them about the tournament. Then he noticed that everyone seemed to be gathered around one central point opposite the fireplace. That was unusual.

He pushed his way through, leaving his friends to fend for themselves if they wanted to make it through the crowd of Gryffindors. Finally, he was able to see what everyone was staring at. There was Danni, standing right there in the Gryffindor common room. That was impossible, of course, no one would let some Ravenclaw in.

But she was smart and resourceful and if she wanted something, she was clearly willing to get it. But what had she been trying to get from the Gryffindor common room? A tiny voice in the back of his head mentioned that maybe she had been looking for him. He did his best to suppress the idea, but it had already formed into a full thought.

She looked around, and it made Harry think of a trapped animal. Then she saw him, and grinned. She slinked over and grabbed one of his hands. Harry could tell that she was forcing herself to look excited, even though she probably wasn't. He knew it was an act as soon as she started gushing. "Harry, it's been too long. You know I adore being in your company, but so much work came up." She grinned at him… seductively?

Then it hit Harry that she was using the rumors about her (the ones that he had inadvertently started) to her own advantage. There were some whistles and soft catcalls and Danni somehow wrapped herself around Harry in a way that left him no room to escape. He decided to play along. It's not like he could really make the situation worse, and it would definitely earn him some brownie points.

"Of course, I understand. You couldn't even find a little bit of time for me…" he tried to make himself sound mock disappointed.

Danni chuckled. "You know I would have made the time if I had even gotten half a second off from my work."

Harry grabbed her arm and tugged her away, satisfied that they had convinced everyone why Danni was here, and also a little disappointed that his own friends believed that bullshit so easily. He tugged Danni to his room, since it was empty now, and motioned for everyone else to leave ahead of them.

Danni bit her lip nervously, and Harry couldn't help it when his eyes were drawn to the motion. He shook his head. "So? Are you here to apologize for that weirdness earlier?"

Danni hesitated, then shook her head. "No. I'm here about something else. I was almost afraid that I got in for nothing, I thought that maybe you weren't here. Where's everyone else going, anyways?"

Harry's eyes widened. "Well, about half an hour ago, all the housemasters visited their students to inform them of some giant meeting. It's probably about that contest that the older students were talking about earlier. You must have missed the announcement. How did you get in here, anyways?"

Danni grinned. "Magic." then she frowned. "But seriously, I have to talk to you."

Harry sat down on his bed, and patted the empty space next to him. Danni plopped down next to him, and the bed made for only one person tilted into the middle, forcing the two to squish together. She took a deep breath, and looked uncertain of where to start. Harry thought that maybe she needed some prompting. "What did you want to talk about? Does it have to do with whatever happened earlier?"

Danni nodded. "Remember how… Professor Moody… was there?" Harry nodded, so she continued. "Well, that wasn't him. It was an imposter or something. Maybe he used that polyjuice potion stuff, or maybe he's just really good at appearance altering spells, I don't really know. He wants to hurt you, using the contest somehow, and he's probably working with You-Know-Who. You can do whatever you want with that information." She spoke quickly, like she couldn't wait any longer for the words to be expelled from her mouth.

She looked ready to leave as soon as she was finished talking, and Harry grabbed her arm. "Hey, you can't just tell me something like that and then leave. Why would you even think that that's true? Do you have proof?"

Danni sighed with frustration. She was hiding something, and she had obviously been hoping that Harry would be too shocked with the actual information to care about how she got it. But Harry wasn't going to let anything pass when it came to Voldemort. That guy was serious, and an accusation like that needed some kind of evidence to back it up.

Danni's voice was too quiet to hear, so she cleared her throat, and barely raised her volume. "The truth is, I know because I saw what he was thinking about. I saw it because I read his mind. Because that's the truth. I can read minds."


	13. Chapter 13

**I know it's not exactly helping his case, but Harry's only doing what he thinks is right. Please read and enjoy and review.**

**A/N I don't own anything from the wizarding world of Harry Potter**

Danni winced as she looked at Harry, preparing for his reaction. But she didn't expect his non reaction. He was staring at her blankly, one eyebrow slightly elevated above the other. "Is this a joke?"

Danni shook her head miserably. "No, I wish it was. Do you think I like having everyone's thoughts pushing and shoving their way into my head? Do you think I'm happy that there's an evil Moody imposter running around? Because I don't, and I'm not. Right now you have two options. You can choose to believe me, or you can choose to believe that I'm crazy. I don't care, if you don't want to listen to me, I'll just find another way to save your stupid butt."

They sat there for what seemed like hours before Harry spoke again. "Prove it, and I'll believe you."

Danni smiled with relief. If he was willing to let her prove it, then she would. "Fine. Just, um, think of a number between negative infinity and infinity."

Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure that negative infinity is a thing." But he closed his mouth to think of his number. "_I'm not even going to think of a number. I'm just going to think of… the color red. Red, red, red, red, red…"_

Danni shook her head. "I don't think red is a number."

Harry shrugged. "Lucky guess."

"Okay, think of the most random thing you can imagine."

"_A giant, polka-dotted, tap dancing, harmonica playing, green and neon pink striped snow leopard hippopotamus leech butt, with thirty two eyes and sixty seven antlers." _ Danni repeated the thought word for word, and Harry couldn't help letting his mouth slip open, just a tiny bit. "But that's impossible. There's no spells for reading minds."

Danni shrugged. "It's not a spell. I've been able to hear peoples' thoughts since the day I was born, according to my parents, anyways. They always told me to keep it a secret. She said that people, muggles or wizards, fear what they don't have or understand. No one else can read minds, so if it was discovered, I would be feared. And fear leads to destruction, or something like that."

Harry breathed out. Suddenly, he sounded suspicious. "Have you read my mind?"

Danni shook her head. "Right now today is the first time I've ever read your mind."

Harry nodded, satisfied. Danni was relieved that he believed her, since it was the truth. "How come you've never read my mind before?"

Danni shrugged. "I was being stubborn." She didn't want to elaborate on the fact that she hadn't wanted more ammunition to hold against him. Thinking back, she probably should have held the same rule for his friends.

Harry nodded, accepting that as well. "Well. I guess this means that there's an evil Moody imposter running around?"

Danni nodded. "Yeah."

"So… we should probably tell Dumbledore, right? I me-"

Danni stood up, shaking her head. "No, no way. You can't tell anyone. You have to promise. If you tell them about the evil doppelganger, they'll want to know how you know, and you would have to tell them about me. You have to promise not to tell anyone, ever. Promise!"

Her voice was shrill, and Harry gave her a hurt look, like it was insulting to believe that he would tell anyone without her permission. "Okay, here's the deal. If you want me to not tell anyone, then you have to add another couple of weeks to our original deal."

Danni sighed with exasperation. "Oh come on, you're not serious, are you?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope, just kidding. I promise I won't tell anyone your divine secret. But in exchange, you have to promise to never read my mind."

Danni nodded. It wasn't difficult to agree to the terms when she never had any plans to read his mind in the first place. "Deal."

He stood up and wrapped his hand around Danni's in a casual manner. "Now, I believe there is a school meeting that we should attend. We wouldn't want to be late, people might start to talk."

Danni laughed. "Oh who cares. Let them talk. It doesn't matter, none of them are as interesting as you."

Harry smiled. "You think I'm interesting?"

Danni blushed, and pushed him away. "No way. I still hate you." But her words didn't have the same harsh sting that they had held just a couple of days ago. Harry held tightly onto her hand, and she didn't try to pull away. They left the dorms, and walked to the Great Hall together, hand in hand. There were still students crowding outside the doors to get in, so the pair wasn't that late.

Once they were in view of other people, Danni tried to take her hand back, but Harry stopped her. "Let them talk, remember? Who cares?"

And Danni couldn't help feeling comforted by his words. She had no idea that Harry was frightened. He believed her about the mind reading thing, so by proxy he believed her about the evil Moody. But he couldn't handle this situation on his own, not even with Danni's help. He needed to talk to someone. And Dumbledore was a trustworthy figure, despite what doubts were in Danni's mind.

He was glad that she had promised not to read his mind. Because then she would see that he was going to talk. He had to tell Dumbledore, the situation was too serious not to. Someone could get seriously hurt or even killed if there was a death eater running around in disguise or something. He just hoped that Danni would see it the same way he did if she ever were to find out.


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry that it's such a short chapter, I'm in the middle of watching Helsing and I got distracted.**

**A/N I don't own anything related to Harry Potter**

Harry breathed out. The school meeting had just been about the tournament, same as the unofficial house meeting. It had a little more information and was from a more reliable source, though. It was a little disappointing to not be able to put his name in the goblet. It would be awesome to get to represent the school and prove how awesome he is.

He had whispered an excuse to Danni, and slipped out as soon as the meeting was over. He hurried to where he knew the staircase to Dumbledore's office would be, and was let in as soon as he arrived. He was only kept waiting for a couple minutes until the headmaster arrived. He sat in his seat behind the desk, and gestured for Harry to take the chair opposite him.

"Ah, Harry. You seem agitated. Something on your mind?"

Harry gulped. He was about to betray Danni's trust, after he had just earned it. But his feelings weren't all that was at stake. Every person in the entire school was in danger. There was no way of knowing exactly what this imposter wanted, other than something that involved himself. And that thought was a little frightening.

And Dumbledore was trusting. He wouldn't mention Danni, just say that he knew, and then leave it to the powerful wizard to deal with the situation. He took a deep breath. As long as he didn't mention Danni, there was no reason for her to get mad at him, right? Plus, she promised not to read her mind, so it would be unlikely that she would ever find out.

"Well, sir, I know this is going to sound a little unbelievable, but I think- I know that something's happened to Professor Moody. It's like he's not even him anymore, and he's been acting kind of… suspiciously lately."

Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "And what suspicious behaviors do you have to report?"

Harry sighed. "Well, um, he, I'm not really sure how to describe it…"

Dumbledore frowned, and Harry felt his heart pounding. The professor had always taken

his side and believed him before, so there was no reason to doubt him this time, right? Or maybe Dumbledore thought that he was crazy, and was just trying to think of the most polite way to kick the student out of his office.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Since he couldn't tell the headmaster everything without his story leading back to Danni, he just sounded like an over imaginative paranoid kid. But Dumbledore seemed to know everything that happened in Hogwarts, so it was possible that he already knew about the crazy evil impostor guy.

Dumbledore opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off by the screeching coming from the hallways.


	15. Chapter 15

**So I've been thinking for a while about Danni's flimsy reasons for hating Harry. Well no more, and I'm sorry if this chapter makes earlier things not make any sense, just let me know and I'll fix things up. Hopefully this doesn't totally ruin the story. If it does then I'll just change it. Please read and enjoy :)**

Danni looked around nervously. She had never expected Harry to grow on her so much. But as much as it didn't immediately seem like a bad thing, she knew that deep down, it was. Danni had always told herself that she hated Harry because he was arrogant and entitled, and he never really did anything for himself. It was easy to think that that was the full truth. But the real reason she hated Harry? It was too painful to remind herself of.

But now it seemed like a necessary pain. There was no way that she could actually allow herself to fall for Harry, if that's what was happening. And Danni had a strong suspicion that it was. Danni closed her eyes, and finally let one of her most painful memories surface.

It was when she was just a little kid. Her aunt had always been her idol, her role model, the one she took all her cues from. She had been very close with her aunt, in some ways closer than she was with her own mother. This particular memory was at one of her birthday parties.

She remembered eating cake and opening presents and laughing with all of her friends. Since she had grown up going to muggle school, even though her family knew she was a witch, most of her childhood friends were muggles. Her parents were in the house while the party was in the backyard. Danni had been the one who insisted she was old enough to hang out with her friends in the backyard.

Her kind, beautiful aunt who had never missed a single important event in Danni's entire life hadn't shown up to the party yet. As it got later in the day, the guests began to go home, one by one. And finally, hourse after the cleanup was done, her aunt showed up. She said that she needed to talk to Danni's parents alone, and they sent her to her room to play with her new toys.

But Danni had always been the rebellious type. She snuck back downstairs, and stood on the last step where the adults wouldn't be able to spot her. She listened in to the conversation. Her aunt, Judy, and her parents began talking, and it took her a little bit to understand. Judy was part of some group she called the 'death eaters' or something. And Danni's parents seemed to agree with this group, whoever they were.

They talked a lot about politics, and it really bored Danni. So she quietly went back to her room, and pretended like she'd been in there the whole time when her parents checked on her. At the time, she didn't know why that memory would be so painful. But once Danni was older, she learned about the Death Eaters. Before she was exposed to them through media because of their outrageous actions, her brother left home to join the group.

Danni felt left out. She had always been the one so close to Judy, and now it was Jacob who had something that he shared with her. Danni decided then that she would become a Death Eater when she was old enough. It wasn't until later that she learned about all the bad things that the Death Eaters did. And it completely broke her heart, to know that her precious aunt, and her brother, were part of a group so evil.

She had read about Harry Potter in her research of the Death Eaters. And it was so much easier to believe that he was the bad guy, like Judy said, rather than believe that Judy was evil. Of course, she knew deep down that it was wrong to hate someone she had never met, to use them as a scapegoat for her anger, which is why she pretended that wasn't the reason. She tricked herself into thinking she hated him for such shallow reasons.

So that's why she couldn't fall for Harry. That would be like a direct betrayal of her aunt. Danni was glad that no one could read her thoughts as easily as she could theirs. Then they would see the she knew. There was a reason that she never went to the quidditch world cup, even though she had wanted to so much. It was because her aunt had told her to stay away if she didn't want to endanger herself.

It was kind of funny, but not even Judy knew about Danni's ability to read minds. She didn't know about that time Danni reached in and plucked out her thoughts. And Danni had seen regret, and sadness in her aunt's mind. Sad that her master was gone, and it was Harry's fault. He was the one who made you-know-who disappear, and that meant that he was the one who made Judy so sad.

And that's why Danni didn't tell anyone, even when she knew that the Death Eaters would be attacking. She told herself that it was justified, but she secretly knew that many people had died because of her. Innocent people who had nothing to do with Harry. And then there was the matter of the Mad-Eye Moody imposter.

If they were truly after Harry, a Death Eater most likely, then should she really get involved? If they just took out Harry, then all her problems would be over, and maybe Judy wouldn't be sad anymore. Not that she had ever shown her sadness to Danni, but the young witch had seen it there.

But… there was something that made Danni hesitate. She felt a strange flutter in her stomach at the thought of Harry dying. She shook her head. She had never read Harry's mind, because she was afraid that if she did, she would see that he was innocent. And that wouldn't do. It was unfortunate, but it wasn't Danni's place to interfere.

She wondered where Harry had wandered off to. He had ditched her pretty quickly as soon as that meeting was over, and that was kind of a rude thing to do. She began to walk towards the Ravenclaw common room. Maybe some of her friends would be there. She shivered. What would people think if they knew everything about her? From her mind reading to her indirect association with Death Eaters, they were sure to hate her.

And Harry would too. And that brought a sinking feeling to her. She didn't want Harry to hate her. But it was okay to continue hating him? None of this made any sense, and Danni wasn't sure what to do. She sighed as she walked. Maybe it would be best to just do nothing at all. To leave things to fate, not that she believed in such things.


	16. Chapter 16

Harry jumped up, and followed Dumbledore out into the hallway. People were running down the hallway, and Snape and McGonagall were both shoving students out of the way as they practically ran to Dumbledore's office. The headmaster gestured for the two professors to enter his office, and swept Harry aside. Harry turned and left. Maybe this was a sign that he shouldn't tell Dumbledore after all.

But he was curious about what had happened. He started heading towards the infirmary. That was where he could find information if someone had been injured. But for those two house masters to be so worried, that was scary. McGonagall and Snape were very strong, and for them to be nervous made Harry nervous.

He stopped at the end of the hallway before he could get to the infirmary. He spotted professors standing outside the room with guarded expressions. They wouldn't be standing there they way they were unless they were guarding the room behind them. Harry turned the corner before they could spot him.

So he wouldn't be able to figure out what had happened, not on his own anyways. He headed towards the general area that he thought he would be able to find the Ravenclaw common room. After searching for a while, he gave up and decided to head to the Great Hall. He had already met Danni there on so many occasions.

As he was walking towards the large hall, he saw a group of girl in blue and bronze making their way through the halls with purposeful strides. Harry decided to follow. Maybe these girls would lead him to Danni. They went into an empty classroom, and he cautiously peered in. The girls all sat down and surrounded Danni in what looked like a comforting group hug.

They were all cooing words of reassurance and comfort, and Harry noted the tears on her face with an uncomfortable clenching in his stomach. "Thanks you guys, you're the best."

"Of course, honey. We wouldn't let you sit here and be sad all on your own. Will you tell us what happened?"

Danni sniffled, and then her head shot up. She rubbed her eyes with her palms, and extracted herself from her friends to stand up. "Will you hold on a second? I just need some air." Harry turned to walk away, but Danni grabbed the back of his robes. "What are you doing here?" She hissed at him.

He pulled away from her and shrugged. "How did you know I was here?"

"I can sense the presence of people without actually reading their thoughts. Were you following me?"

Harry shook his head. "I followed those other girls. I was looking for you. I need your help with something."

"What?"

Harry shivered. He couldn't help feeling like something was wrong. Danni's voice sounded cold, the way it had when they first met. He had just been making progress, what had he done to upset her now? "Umm, I don't know if you've heard about it or not, but something happened. Just a little while ago. I went to the infirmary to see if I could find out about anything, but they're not letting anyone in there."

Danni's eyes narrowed. She kept her voice low so that the girls inside the classroom wouldn't hear the topic of the conversation. "You want me to go there and read some minds? Are you crazy? What if the teachers have some kind of mental defence and they know that I'm violating their thoughts and they try to kill me?"

Harry had to stifle a laugh. Now wasn't the time. "Well, in the past have you ever noticed anything that distinguishes a teacher's mind from a student's?"

Danni shook her head slowly. "Well… no. How close can you get me?"

Harry tried not to grin. "The end of the hallway. Is that enough?"

Danni raised one eyebrow. "Yeah, it's plenty close, which makes it plenty suspicious. We should go to wherever is directly below the infirmary. A floor isn't going to stop me from being able to read minds."

Harry smiled. "This is why you're the one in Ravenclaw."

Danni sighed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just find out whether it would be best to go to the floor above or the floor below. I need to get back to my friends before they worry." Harry noticed that she emphasized the word 'friend', but he didn't say anything. He watched as she went back into the classroom and fell into the many armed embrace.

Harry left, and went back to his dorm room. There would be no point in actually walking around blindly, trying to figure out where to go. He got back to his room, and to his relief, it was empty. He opened the trunk at the foot of his bed and rummaged around a little bit. He found a rolled up piece of parchment, and pulled it out. When he unrolled it, it was a large map.

He found the infirmary on the map, and skimmed over the areas around it. He decided that the floor below was too close to classrooms for comfort, but above, there was a stretch of bare hallway. He rolled the map back up, placed it back into the trunk, and left to go get Danni. He had seen her name was still in that empty classroom, and went back the way he had come from.

When he got there, Danni was already waiting out in the hallway. She didn't smile, but she didn't seem quite as cold towards him as she had before. "I think it would be best to approach this from the floor above."

She nodded. "You know, I was surprised to feel you coming back so soon. I would have thought that surveying the land would have taken more time. Well, let's go."

They went to the area that Harry had figured out was directly above the infirmary. He stepped back, not wanting to crowd Danni. She closed her eyes for a moment, and Harry didn't say anything, not wanting to break her concentration, or whatever it is she was doing.

She frowned, and turned to look back at Harry. "What did you say happened?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't know, I was just in D-... hanging around, and I heard someone scream."

She gave him a hard look, but when she didn't question that, Harry assumed that she didn't read his mind, since she had promised. "Well you made it sound so urgent. From what I can tell, someone messed up during potions class, spilled some boiling hazard on their hands, and got some third degree burns But they're already being patched up."

Harry sighed. "Oh. Who was it?"

Danni frowned again. "I'm not going to tell you. You'll just make fun of them for being so clumsy."

She began to walk away, and Harry reached out to grab her arm. "Wait. We need to talk. Why are you suddenly acting so distant? This morning, I thought…"

Danni's face softened a little. "Well… it's complicated. I guess that's the best answer that I can give you. You know how much I hated you just a few days ago. Well, I don't hate you that much anymore."

Harry grinned. "Good, because I don't hate you that much either."

Danni gulped, and tugged her arm free. Harry could see the red blush spreading across her face. "I have to go." And she hurried away. Harry felt a strange wave of happiness rush through him, and he was pretty sure that he knew why.


	17. Chapter 17

Danni sighed as she hurried away. She could feel her cheeks burning, and she knew that they must be bright red. This was crazy. She was supposed to hate Harry Potter, instead, she was feeling the opposite of that. She shook her head. She was definitely not in love. That would impossible, since they had only met a few days ago.

She returned to the Ravenclaw dorm room. She needed to talk to her aunt. Maybe… maybe it wouldn't be so bad to not hate Harry. He had yet to do anything to her (aside from that innuendo out in the courtyard) that should make her hate him. But it was risky. Her aunt had told her a few years ago, back when she first got her letter from Hogwarts, not to write to her unless it was an emergency. Did this whole situation count as an emergency?

Danni was interrupted from her thoughts by another Ravenclaw. She had an annoyed scowl on her face, and didn't mind letting Danni see her disapproval. "You have a visitor."

Danni left the common room, and found Harry pacing back and forth down the hallway. He glanced up when he heard her footsteps. "You know, I think one of my roommates is jealous that she's not the one getting called upon by the famous Harry Potter. What do you want again so soon?"

Harry shrugged. "I just want to talk. Is that okay?"

Danni narrowed her eyes, but she really couldn't think of a valid excuse for turning away. She was tempted to read his mind to see what he wanted to talk about, but she knew she couldn't break their deal. "What do you want to talk about?"

Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. He looked a lot more tired than he had less than an hour ago. "Please?"

Danni sighed, then nodded. "I guess."

He grabbed her arm with a smile. "Good. Not here though, too many people could be listening."

Danni laughed. "Paranoid much? Are we discussing something that could be troublesome? What could have possibly came up so soon after we parted?"

Harry didn't respond, just pulled Danni with him to the nearest empty classroom. He closed the door and then turned to face Danni, whose hand he was still clutching. He let go, and took a step back. "Listen. It's about the Moody imposter. He could be someone really dangerous in disguise. You heard about what happened during the Quidditch Cup over the summer, and those were the death eaters. They don't care if they hurt innocent people, in fact they revel in it."

Danni felt a bit sick. It was one thing for her to hate what her aunt and brother were a part of, but it was another thing to hear someone else talk about. Especially someone who had been the focus of their terror. She gulped. "I know."

Harry gave her a funny look, but continued. "If there really is a death eater running around Hogwarts with free rein, a lot of people could get hurt. I think that it would be selfish for you to refuse to tell anyone what you know. You could save a lot of people, and maybe nobody would care that you can read minds."

Danni sniffed. "Of course they care. I could promise not to ever read their minds, but sometimes I slip. And they might not feel anything, but they'll always be suspicious. They won't want to be near someone who could know all of their deepest secrets."

Harry frowned. "Well, as long as they don't think about their deepest secrets, it should be fine, right?"

Danni shook her head. "It's not just surface thoughts. I can pick up almost anything. And if that gets out, no one will trust me ever again."

Harry made his voice soft. "I trust you."

Danni stared at him, a little disbelieving. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. If you trust me, then prove it. Let me read your mind. Anything I see in there is fair game, but I promise not to cross any boundaries that you set."

Harry hesitated. Danni thought for a moment that he was going to refuse her. Then this would all be over, and she would go back to living like she always had before she met him. But she saw something in his bright green eyes, something like regret. Then he nodded firmly. "Alright. I trust you. You can… you can read my mind."

Danni's eyes widened in surprise. He was actually going to let her slip into his head, with only her word to say that she wouldn't look anything he didn't want her to? She wanted to take it back, and change her mind. She didn't want to see everything that made him who he was. She knew instinctively that if she saw the good in him, she wouldn't be able to hate him anymore.

She closed her eyes, and didn't care if Harry did the same. It didn't take much effort, he was standing right there, but it took an extra nudge that wouldn't be necessary if he wasn't already steeling his mind against hers. But then she was in. Right now, she wasn't just reading his thoughts, she was fully immersing herself in his mind. The interior of everyone's mind looked very different. She found herself in what looked like a long corridor

There were rows of doors, each leading to different memories and emotions. Some were black, others were a normal wooden brown. She noticed a few that had keep out signs on them. She had to prove herself trustworthy, so she avoided them. She pushed open the first door that she found, and it was a black one.

Inside, she saw a younger version of Harry. He was looking in a tall mirror, and his reflection moved independent of him. It slipped something into his pocket, and when Harry reached into his pocket, he pulled out a red stone. Danni frowned as Harry turned around, and there was Professor Quirrell. She remembered him from their first year, he had always been a bit of a nut. And under strange circumstances, he had left his position, just like all the other defence against the dark arts teachers they had had.

She left, and stepped into another room, this time with a plain brown door. Inside, she saw the younger Harry, ecstatic to finally have found a place where he belonged. Her heart broke a little at that. It seemed the black doors were bad and the brown doors were good.

There was one brown door that was glowing, located right next to a black door with a big keep out sign. She went in the brown one, and saw herself, messing with the rubies. When she saw her face, she looked beautiful, way prettier than the average girl that she saw when she looked in the mirror. And there was a feeling of complete trust, and Danni couldn't look anymore. She left the memory, and left his mind.

She sighed. "Alright, I believe you. But Dumbledore, he'll be the only person to find out, you understand?"

He nodded with relief. "Of course."


	18. Chapter 18

Harry couldn't help glancing back at Danni every few steps. He was afraid that she would change her mind and run away, and then he would be stuck explaining everything to Dumbledore on his own. He knew that it was a big deal for Danni to agree to tell, and he didn't want to push it, but he couldn't help being nervous that she would back out after all.

Once they were standing outside the headmaster's office, Harry took a deep breath. He turned to look at Danni, and she was staring dully ahead, like she wasn't even paying attention to her surroundings. The hidden door slid away, and Harry tugged Danni forward, onto the moving staircase. It brought them up, and Harry was getting nervous. Danni was going to back out any moment for sure, and then he would sound crazy when he tried to explain things.

They were at the end of the hallway leading to the office, and Harry kept his tight grip on her hand. He pulled her forward, and after a minute they stepped into the large office. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his head bent over some papers, and he was holding a quill in one hand. He looked up after a moment.

"Ah, Harry. What can I do for you?"

He glanced at Danni, and she crossed her hands over her chest stubbornly. She gave him a look that said he would be doing all the talking. He cleared his throat. "Sir, do you recall how I mentioned that there was something… off about Professor Moody?" Dumbledore nodded. "Well, the truth is, it's an imposter. And he definitely wants to hurt… someone."

Dumbledore tilted his head back, and gestured for the two students to take a seat. Harry sat down, but Danni remained standing. Dumbledore looked at Harry, ignoring the other girl. "And how do you know this?"

Harry glanced at Danni one last time, but she remained silent. He sighed. It would be so much easier if she would just talk, but he could understand why she was adverse to the idea. So he took a deep breath. "Well, Danni can read minds and she accidentally read the mind of Professor Moody, but she could tell that it wasn't him, and she saw thoughts that are very violent. And this man is definitely a threat, and we don't know where the real Moody is currently."

Dumbledore finally looked up at Danni. She had an unreadable expression on her face, but she didn't deny the crazy sounding story. "Really. You can read minds?" She nodded stiffly. Dumbledore stroked his beard. "Hmm, interesting. I have never encountered anyone with the ability to read minds. Fascinating."

Danni's eyes narrowed, and she frowned. "You already knew." And it wasn't a question, it was a statement. "Why didn't you ever say anything? How did you know? How can you do that?"

Harry looked back and forth between them. "What? What did he do?"

Danni looked at Harry. "He can somehow block me out, and only let me hear certain things…" She looked like a lightbulb went off in her mind. "The other day when you were talking about the hourglasses… you purposely didn't let me see everything. But how?"

The older wizard smiled kindly. "It is a rather difficult task, and takes many years of training until it is just a natural defence that activates without even thinking about it. But I never suspected that the mental barriers I've learned to erect would be able to block a probing mind reader."

She pouted. "That still doesn't explain how you knew. Did my parents tell you? Did I slip up and read a professor's mind? How?"

Dumbledore switched back to the more serious subject matter. "What exactly did you see in this… imposter's mind?"

Danni shivered. "It was very dark, a blur of thoughts all melted together in a way I've never seen before. There was a picture of Harry, thoughts of him being hurt, and his aura was something completely dark and overwhelming. I've just never felt anything like that before."

Harry thought it was a little strange how Danni kept mentioning that she had never felt anything like that before. It was almost like she expected to be able to recognize the feeling that came with such an evil sounding person. He looked to the headmaster. "What are we going to do, Sir?"

Dumbledore frowned. "There isn't very much that can be done, I'm afraid. Like you said earlier, Harry, there is no evidence, no solid proof against this man,"

Harry's eyes met with Danni's and she looked pissed. "Earlier? As in, you were talking to the old man about this earlier? As in you only wanted me to agree because he probably didn't believe you? You promised! I kept my end, but you…" Her hands balled into fists by her sides, and Harry stood up to reach out to her. She brushed off his hand and scowled at him. "It was stupid of me to ever trust you! I knew that it was stupid!"

Harry's voice sounded pleading. She was so angry about this, and he didn't know why. He hadn't even broken his promise. He had never mentioned her to the headmaster. "Danni, please, just let me explain-"

She shook her head. "I don't want to hear your explanation. You can consider all of our deals to be terminated." She turned and stormed away.

Harry went to follow, but Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I believe you would be best off giving her some space for a little while. Now, is there anything else you can tell me about this imposter?"

Harry made a groan of disgust in the back of his throat, and also left. He didn't know anything else, and Dumbledore had just said that he wouldn't be able to do anything with that information anyways. So he had broken Danni's trust for no reason. He wasn't sure where to find her. Maybe the Ravenclaw common room, or maybe another empty classroom, surrounded by comforting friends.

He decided that he would just find her using the Marauder's map, the easiest method of finding anyone located on Hogwarts' grounds. As he began to jog back to the Gryffindor common room, his scar began to sting. He couldn't keep his eyes open, and he collapsed to the floor. _An angry looking woman pounded on the door, freezing cold rain soaking straight through her clothes. She was shouting in a high pitched voice. "Let me in! You know that you have no right to keep her away from me!"_

_The door was opened, just a sliver, and there was an anxious young woman standing inside. "Please, you can't take her, you don't understand, she's already called us her parents, please-"_

_The angry woman shoved the door open and stomped inside, not caring that she was tracking in mud and water. "You give me back my daughter you bitch! You already have your son, why must you take away my child as well?"_

_The other woman shook tears out of her eyes. "It's been four years, and you are no more fit to be a parent now than you were back then. She is our daughter now." A young man joined the dryer woman, and wrapped an arm around her waist._

_He nodded in agreement. "Judy, what kind of life would you be able to provide? You are not capable of being a mother."_

_The soaked woman looked furious. "Fine, then. Not now. But someday, she will come back to me, of her own volition, and there will be nothing you can do. I don't care what you think, Daniella is my daughter, and I won't let you keep her!"_


End file.
